Australia

A powerful cyclone has hit the north-eastern coast of Australia. It made landfall in Queensland on 28 March 2017. With winds up to 263km/h, it was first assessed as a category 4 storm, and then it was downgraded to category 2 when moving inland. On 29 March, the authorities warned that a 1,300 kilometer stretch of the north-eastern coast is at dangerous risk of flooding.

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UN-SPIDER news:

On 26 September 2016 the International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated due to floods in Australia. The request for activation was due to heavy rainfall throughout the month of September causing flash flooding along the Lachlan River in Australia.

The flooding at Forbes is one of the worst over the last twenty years in this area and is expected to worsen over the next week as more rain is forecast.

The activation of the Charter was requested by Geoscience Australia, which has also been nominated as Project Manager.

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UN-SPIDER news:

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) launched a new natural disaster management instrument at the Global Insurance Forum in New York, the Global Risk Map. This interactive map shows the social and economic impact of cyclones, floods, earthquakes and related disasters during the past 115 years.

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UN-SPIDER news:

An agreement has been signed between the Australian CSIRO research institute and the European Space Agency (ESA) which will allow Australia to get access to European satellitedata, while ESA would benefit from Australia’s research expertise during joint projects on space technology and applications.

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UN-SPIDER news:

IGAC, the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute, UN-SPIDER's Regional Support Office in Colombia, as part of the celebration of its 80 year anniversary, is presenting the sixth edition of the International Geomatics Week. This time the event will take place between 10 and 14 August of 2015 at the Wyndham Hotel Bogota, Colombia.

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When using Space technologies for disaster risk management and emergency response, it is not only important to have access to the right data and software, it is also crucial to be aware of methods that have proven to be good practices in a certain context.